Mouthguard for analysis of biomarkers for traumatic brain injury
Embodiments include methods, systems and computer program products for monitoring a user of a helmet for traumatic brain injury. Aspects include obtaining a saliva specimen from a mouthguard and providing the saliva specimen to a lab on chip. Aspects further include determining whether the saliva specimen contains a biomarker that indicates the user suffered a traumatic brain injury and creating an alert that the user of the helmet has suffered a traumatic brain injury.
1. A computer program product for monitoring a user for traumatic brain injuries, the computer program product comprising:
a non-transitory storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising:
determining that the user has suffered a severe impact;
instructing a sensor to obtain a saliva specimen from a mouthguard and to provide the saliva specimen to a lab on chip, wherein obtaining the saliva specimen from the mouthguard is performed after a delay period from the severe impact, wherein the delay is determined based on a severity of the severe impact experienced by the user;
analyzing the saliva specimen for one or more biomarkers; and
creating an alert that the user of the mouthguard may have suffered a traumatic brain injury, wherein the alert includes an indication of the one or more biomarkers, a concentration of the one or more biomarkers and an identification of the user.
2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the lab on chip is disposed within the mouthguard.
3. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the lab on chip is disposed within a helmet that is in fluid communication with the mouthguard.
4. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the determination that the user has suffered a severe impact is based on a determination that a helmet worn by the user has experienced an acceleration above a threshold amount.
5. The computer program product of claim 4 , wherein the threshold amount is based upon a medical history of the user.
6. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the delay is further determined based on a medical history of the user.
7. A system for monitoring a user for traumatic brain injuries comprising:
a lab on chip configured to receive a saliva specimen from a mouthguard and to analyze the saliva specimen to identify one or more biomarkers;
a processor configured to communicate with the lab on chip, wherein the processor creates an alert that the user of the mouthguard may have suffered a traumatic brain injury,
wherein the processor instructs the lab on chip to obtain the saliva specimen from the mouthguard in response to a determination that the user has experienced an acceleration above a threshold amount, wherein the saliva specimen is obtained after a delay period from the acceleration above the threshold amount, wherein the delay is determined based on a severity of the acceleration above the threshold amount experienced by the user, and
wherein the alert includes an indication of the one or more biomarkers, a concentration of the one or more biomarkers and an identification of the user.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the lab on chip is disposed within the mouthguard.
9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the lab on chip is disposed within a helmet that is in fluid communication with the mouthguard.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is disposed within the helmet and wherein the helmet includes an accelerometer.
11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the threshold amount is based upon a medical history of the user.
12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the delay is further determined based on a medical history of the user.